Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Career Choice can Impact Family Life




There was a study done recently in the Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology.  This study looked at various occupations and divorce rates. It has heated up the debate over how career choices can impact our personal lives.

The top ten occupations where divorces are common are:
  1. Dancers and Choreographers (43.1%)
  2. Bartenders (38.4)
  3. Massage Therapists (38.2)
  4. Fish and Game Wardens (25.5)
  5. Law Enforcement Officers (14.5)
  6. Detectives (12.5)
  7. Casino Workers
  8. Telephone Operators
  9. Nurses
  10. Home Health Aides


Among the top ten occupations where divorce is the lowest are:
  1. Agricultural Engineers
  2. Sales Engineers
  3. Nuclear Engineers
  4. Optometrists (4%)
  5. Clergy (5.6)
  6. Podiatrists (6.8)


Now, let’s not get freaked out here husbands and fathers. These numbers don’t paint a complete picture.  Remember this is a correlation, not causation. Sometimes professions and occupations have a certain lifestyle attached to them, and if that is avoided, than so too could a divorce be avoided.

If there is one thing I have learned as a Counsellor, is that I don’t see many individuals in my office who are happy and having fun in their intimate relationships.  It’s usually the ones who have fallen out of love.  One way to stay in love is to continuously date your wife.  Have fun with her.  Keep that flame burning.

Also, as you are making your career choices, you should investigate some things.  Like traveling, are you going to be away from home, how does your spouse feel about that?  Also consider hours, will you be working nights, weekends, or a compressed workweek.  You should also consider the stress of your job, and will that spillover to your home life.  How do you plan on handling work stress?

As I had noted in a previous post, you are a husband first, next you are a father, and than you are job position, church position, volunteer position and so on.  I recommend reading this earlier post by another author of things to consider as you work.

Do you think career choice impacts family life? How so?

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